


Written in the Stars

by Corehealer



Series: EmetWoL Event - Valentione's Week 2021 [8]
Category: Ascian - Fandom, Final Fantasy XIV, Shadowbringers - Fandom
Genre: Acceptance, F/M, Lovers, Mortality, Other, Painting, Reconciliation, Regret, Self-Acceptance, Soul Bond, Soul Magic, Stars, Temptation, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29588289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corehealer/pseuds/Corehealer
Summary: Entries Eleven and Twelve in the EmetWoL Valentione's Week event, and its conclusion. For these Valentione's Day prompts, Lovers and Stargazing, a final note to the little story crafted during this event week's prompts and a quiet moment between two ancient lovers.Sarah and Hades stand atop the apartment block she and her partners have been sharing during their time in the phantom Amaurot. The two of them play around with his glamour of the night sky, and discuss their future together and their present circumstances, after he offers her something dear to them both.
Relationships: Azem/Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV), Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV)/Original Character(s), Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: EmetWoL Event - Valentione's Week 2021 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155329
Kudos: 4





	Written in the Stars

“Hades?”

“ _Yes, Sarah_?”

“Move that one a little bit over to the left. I want to see it next to the green ones.”

“ _Of course my dear_.”

They were painting the sky again, this time together, as he sought to try and teach her a bit more about the glamours he had used to recreate a night sky, and a day cycle.

“ _Now, gesture your fingers softly, just so_.”

“Like this?”

“ _Yes. Take care not to apply too much pressure now. You might shatter the illusion otherwise_.”

“Wouldn’t want that...”

She smiled, watching now as he guided her hands and fingers in his own to move the stars above them and gently move them into new and complex constellations. Patterns of their own devising, just for fun.

They stood atop the apartment block where they had been staying in the phantom Amaurot these many days. They had just concluded another meal with her partners and had retired together to this space for some quiet time, and for him to teach her how he had crafted this sky for her the other night, for their date.

With all the ease of a master architect, he had interlaced numerous, smaller glamours together aspected in umbral tones atop a sheet of pure astral energy. A weave of darkness and light. He had conceived of exactly how to create it, ironically enough, weeks earlier, when they had first been reunited here in this place through her efforts. And the way she had shown him the real night sky.

So much had already happened since then, but for him, it already felt like all the many, many years that had passed in silent procession without her had fled from him. Their pain ever to remain, but the memory of every single moment he had spent apart from her, unable to do things as simple as this with her, now gone from his mind and heart.

He often caught himself in these moments, as he held her hands and regarded the wonder in her eyes as she regained yet more of her heritage in his arms and patient teaching, cherishing every single second all the more than he recalled doing in all the years he had spent with her in ancient days. When they lived centuries, millenia, together. And each day had bled into the next. A routine.

He had come now, in this time, to understand from long absence, just how precious such moments as these were. And still railed against the notion that they should ever come to an end again. No life such as the ones he had led before, as Solus and all the rest, were ones worth living. Not without her. His heart and soul.

Such thoughts brought other things to his mind as well.

He still mused on the matter of her Ascension. Wondering if and when it would be prudent to offer her the chance to take her stone of office fully in hand and claim for herself more of her legacy, in the manner of a sundered Ascian. He hesitated, because while it would return more of her to herself and grant her a longer lifespan, effectively immortality as he possessed, it would come with certain risks.

The risk that the lingering imprint of Zodiark, already within her soul from their interactions, would grow with the imprint of it that he had left in the stone. That he had placed there on the assumption that, when the time came to reclaim her, it would be as an Ascian in full. To change her mind and turn her service towards the Ardor. The Rejoinings.

She had never desired such, and never would. Not in this life or perhaps any other. This he knew now, perhaps as he knew then despite delusions to the contrary. And she had finally managed, now, in this life, to convince him of her worth, and theirs. Of the value of the world and the people in it as they were now.

He did not want to cheapen that or rob her of it for his own sake.

Beyond this, he also worried about the rigors of the process itself, and how it carried risks of harming her body, her soul, or her mind. A conflation of memory on the scale offered by the stone, implanted quickly in Ascension, would do much to return Persephone to him. But would potentially rob him of Sarah.

A woman who, despite the similarities and desires they shared, was still ultimately unique. A fundamentally different person. Whom he had fallen in love with in turn. Perhaps in some ways even more than he had loved her former self, given what she now represented to him. The fullest example of the value of fleeting, striving existence.

She had freed him from his greatest mistakes. Had defeated him despite the differences between them. Had challenged everything he had believed and done. And despite it all, had offered her hand to him.

She had ample opportunity to let him, and the past, remain in the past. To forget, or choose the hands and arms of others she loved. To walk some other path, and abandon him. But she had chosen not to. She had laboured long and hard to reclaim him, and to find a way to forgive. Reconcile.

Not just for his sins but her own. To reckon with what she had done and failed to do honestly, and not run away and hide.

As he stood with her in this moment, he thought on all of this and more and wondered if such a woman as she was now, forged by such fire and loss, would ever desire to go, in some sense, backwards in time. Even for power, and knowledge, and heritage. Even for immortality.

“Is something troubling you, Hades? You seem distracted tonight.”

He’d hesitated one too many times as he guided her hands, and she had noticed his distraction. He sighed a bit, and released his hands and arms from hers.

“ _Nothing gets past you, my dear. Yes... I have been wondering about something for some time, something important. I had little sense of when would be an appropriate time to broach the subject with you, but..._ ”

He shrugged, motioning to his regalia’s front folds, searching for something.

“ _Now seems as good a time as any. If you could take your Azem crystal out for me, my dear_?”

She looked up at him quizzically, as he brought forth his own stone. He had received it anew from Elidibus, who now retained them after the Tower. Her gift to him, which he intended to share anew with the others of the Convocation when the time came.

Despite them being memories of theirs and Lahabrea’s from the time immediately after the Sundering, they still represented their offices well enough to be suitably powerful and, thus, best placed with their respective office holders. As hers now was, resting in her hand as she retrieved it from her robe’s innermost pocket.

“Not sure what we would need with these when we have the stars in this sky to enjoy.”

“ _We can return to the sky in a moment. I would ask you a question that has been on my mind for some time_.”

They stood in silence for a moment, before he began, looking down at his stone and hers, brought together in their cupped hands.

“ _You may recall, that Hythlodaeus spoke to you of this stone and its purpose_.”

“He told me you and the other Unsundered used them to Ascend sundered shards of the Convocation back to their seats, when one of them was found and a vacancy was present.”

“ _Indeed_.”

He paused to allow this to sink in for her.

“You want to offer this to me.”

“ _Yes. I do. The chance to live forever. To be even more like what you were. To become more powerful, like you were_.”

Another pause. She looked down at the stone, her eyes running over every ilm of it’s smooth, crystalline surface.

“I... I don’t know. I understand why you would want this, why you would offer it to me. Perhaps rightly so, regardless of the context. But...”

She closed her fingers tightly around the stone, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

“I don’t know what I want... in truth. I cannot pretend I am not tempted to take this offer eagerly. To reclaim these things. And I dearly wish to live by your side for all time, to live ages with you as we once did and keep you from the loneliness you have endured for so long.”

She looked up at him, a tear drawing down her right cheek.

“But... I understand too why I put these things away. Left them behind. And I cannot bring myself to rush towards them again, knowing what I know now. I have to think about it. I’m sorry.”

He frowned a little, for a moment, before coaxing his lips back towards a weak smile, and nodding in understanding.

“ _I understand, my love. I do. There will be no compulsion from me for you to ever have to accept this burden in full again. You will ever be Azem in your heart and soul, but these things that the stone holds..._ ”

He gazed down at it, before returning his eyes to hers.

“ _The offer will remain open. But it changes nothing between us_.”

She smiled at him.

“I know. I know you would not compel me. Nor would I allow you to, in any case. But I appreciate the offer, truly.”

She placed the stone back within her pocket, as he did the same with his.

“I will say again though... the prospect had already occurred to me, to ask about it. I cannot act as though I would not want it. Mainly in terms of living forever.”

“ _Such things tend to be a bit overrated, in my experience. But in your company, I imagine they would not be any longer_.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder, before returning to looking up at the night sky above them.

“ _As for the rest... well, a great deal of it can be gained with diligence and patience. Power and memory both can be taught and re-experienced slowly, as we have been doing. I do not mind this_.”

She leaned into his hand and arm, sighing.

“Tempting though. Having that all back in an instant.”

“ _The process itself takes several bells, and would not be safe in the full sense_.”

“How so?”

“ _There would be the chance that your soul could warp or break under the strain, though the likelihood of that happening would be low. More worryingly for me, however, would be the ways in which Ascension might work changes upon your mind and memories of this life_.”

She blinked a few times up at him, as he continued to look upwards.

“You... you would be worried about losing me again?”

“ _Losing you, Sarah. Yes_.”

“But... even if it-”

“ _Yes, hero, even if it would mean I would regain Persephone, or however much more the stone could provide her anew. Must I spell everything out for you_?”

She choked a bit on tears, beginning to form, and leaned more heavily into him. He turned his head, scoffing at her.

“ _Come now, must it be so surprising for you to learn that I have come to regard you, here as you are now, with as much reverence as I once reserved for her? What you once were_?”

“It... perhaps, but... it means no less to me to hear you speak it out loud...”

He leaned down close to her face and wiped her tears away again with gloved hands.

“ _How could I not learn to love one so captivating and strong willed as you, my dear? You’ve come a long way yourself, to reach this place_.”

She nodded at him, thinking back on her life in this modern age. Her life with her tribe in Ilsabard. Her life on the road, traveling. Her journey to Eorzea, and all that came after she joined the Scions. The adventures she’d had in Ishgard, in the East, in Gyr Abania. Even the First, retracing Ardbert’s steps.

And now she was here, in this place. With him.

“ _You saved me. It is only right that I should endeavour to try and repay the favour. Any way that I can. With all my heart_.”

“Likewise... you did the same for me. Giving all of this to me.”

She turned up to the night sky.

“And this. You moved the stars themselves for me.”

“ _And I would do so again, a thousand, thousand times_.”

They spoke in unison.

“ ** _Just to see you smile_**.”

They both smiled, and looked up, lost in thought and memory. After a few moments, she spoke again.

“I used to always love looking up at the sky in my youth. Never could I have imagined I’d one day share that pleasure with Garlemald’s founder.”

“ _Hopefully, once we can set things aright on the Source and save my erstwhile empire from itself and my great grandson, we can go and visit your tribe. I imagine they would be quite surprised to learn of all you have done, and in my company no less_.”

“If my mother yet lives, I imagine she will be the most surprised of all...”

She didn’t remember much of her youth in the ancient past, and Hades, having not known her at that time, had little to offer on the subject. To share in her recollection of her youth in this life gave him some small comfort that he could help her find peace with her present life, too.

“ _We’ll go together and find a way to help you reconcile with them. However long it takes_.”

“That... would mean a lot to me, Hades. Thank you.”

She leaned onto his shoulder more fully now, sighing again.

“Whatever am I to do with you.”

“ _Whatever you like, hero. Including giving me a good throttling like last time, if necessary. I can be a right bastard sometimes, after all_.”

“I know, and I love you for it.”

They laughed together, as they turned to face one another.

“ _Just... no more holes through me, this time_.”

She grinned at him.

“No more holes through you. Promise.”

They kissed, and then resumed their idle painting of the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> As is the case with my formal series shipping Emet-Selch with my Warrior of Light (which this is a seasonal event extension of), I italicize Emet's speech here out of respect and admiration for him and to add definition to his words when he speaks in a scene. Just for clarification.
> 
> Sarah and Hades have a long road ahead of them. Whether or not she takes him up on the offer or Ascension or not will, I suspect, have to be something I resolve later in the context of my main fanfiction series focused on them. Endwalker will probably offer the needed context necessary to appropriately grapple with the moral and emotional morass that the Azem crystal represents for the WoL and, in my case, for Sarah. But irregardless of whether she takes that step or not, she will not lack for her dearest friend to see through whatever comes.
> 
> The EmetWoL event has now come to an end, and I am happy I was able to muster the time and creative energy this go around to participate! I look forward to doing so again and engaging my full passion for future such events, especially as I continue to develop my WoL's fanon relationships and history going forward towards whatever awaits us all in Endwalker. It has been a real treat to write these little pieces of fluff and develop Sarah and Hades' relationship just a bit more with them.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read these and my other works, as always. Expect my Circle None Can Break conclusion, my Dissention continuation, and other diverse FFXIV works as soon as I am able to devote more time to them. I am currently focused primarily on a Master's Thesis, which takes up significant time and energy. But I am eager to return to my fanfiction writing when I am able to.


End file.
